The Hope pioneer., 1887-07-29
Scarcely is there a battle.

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held from Bull Run to Appomattox on
which some dear to me did not crow,
with their lives their devotion to thei1
native State. Dear comrades, honored
as men, loved as companions. cold in
death will my heart be ere 1 cease tc
love and honor you! Yet my heart is
large enough to embrace my whole
country; from the Atlantic to the
Pacific, from the lakes to the gulf; to re.
Jolce in her prosperity, to glory in he1
greatness; to feel thrill of pride when
her course is as glorious as her might
is resistless, when her magnanmity
equals her power. And to you, gentle.
men of Gettysburg, let me say this is
an opportunity to display magma
nlmity worthy of this great Nation.
Leave to time, the touchstone which
tries all human action, the question OF
ight and wrong involved; let the future
historian, probably yet unborn, try the
cause; and prosterity will render ver-
dict which is apt to be just. To them
let us leave it. Its deeds have been
done, its drama closed; but for our
country there remains future.
We, too, are making history. If this
occasion, being in the interest of peace
and reconciliation, will fill a bright
page in that history, with what luster
would that one shine which would re-
cord a similar Reunion, national in it's
character, in which should be buried all
rancor and hatred, from which we
would go forth not merely citizens, but
friends and brothers, animated by one
alm-the greatness and glory of our
common country. Adopt, in it's true
spirit, the Union monument suggested,
and with magnanimity broad enough
TO embrace our whole country, deep
enough to bury in oblivion the bitter
ness and hate Of past strife, build on
the spot suggested monument to im-
mortalize American valor and demon
strate American magnanimity. Let che
whole country join with the. National
Government and every State in the I'm
ion. Complete it, if possible, by the
25th anniversary of the battle; send out
your invitations, and my word for it,
Gettysburg will witness such gather
ing as the whole world has seldom seen
Its hills and valleys dotted with white
tents. not filled with angry combatants,
ready to hurl each other to destruction,
but with the highest type of American
manhood, ready to join hands in a true
and hearty reconciliation which shall
make us again a united and happy peo-
pie. Do this, and write the name of
American higher on the roll of true
fame than you could have done had
you been able to write yourselves VIC
torious on every battlefield of the war.
l cannot but believe that this suggestion
will commend itself to the good men
everywhere iii our broad land, and if
properly carried out will do more to re-
store true friendship in the sections
than any other one thing that could be
done. Let us my countrymen embrace
the opportunity, and make one page in
American history which shall shine
with lustre unsurpassed by any re-
corded since the world began.
Col. A. X. Mcclure extended a well
come from the State of Pennsylvania to
the Virginians.
COL. AYLETr's SENTIMENTS.
Col. VIM. R. Aylett, who succeeded
Gen. Armistead as commander of the
brigade upon the death of Armistead,
having been chosen to respond on be-
half Of the State Of Virginia to Penn
sylYania's welcome, paid Col. McC Clure
a warm tribute for his greeting.
Among other things he said:
l utter 1t as sentiment that comes
yelling up from every bosom of Vir-
ginia and the South, that the man who
would rekindle again that feeling
which filled our land with death and
tears and grief and mourning, with
graves and suffering, is not only un-
worthy of the high title Of American
citizen, but even of that of human be-
ing, and should find no home or friends
on earth or in heaven. Let no politi-
clan, for selfish and unworthy purposes,
fan the dead embers of fratricidal strife,
but let the great, warm and generous
heart of our Nation, with the throb of
the ocean, as if moved by all the tenn
pests of Gods whole universe, speak its
thundered condemnation of any effort
so vile, wicked and unworthy.
He said that the assassination of
Lincoln was great calamity for the
South, and now that the storm had
passed and passion subsidized, the South
loves and reveres his memory and that
Of the great Captain who was kind and
magnanimous in the hour of victory at
Appomattox. Then he continued:
WHAT MATTERS THE FLAGS.
There is not true man at the South
to-day but who feels as if he would like
to stand at the tombs of Lincoln and
Grant, to plant a flower and to water it
with a manly tear! In the presence of
a feeling like this, too sacred and deep for
utterance, what matter it who shall
keep the battlehags? They passed into
your hand in brave and manly combat,
untouched by dishonor, after a baptism
in blood that made the gray jacket a
mantle Of glory, and we are as willing
your people should keep them as ours.
They are in the hand of our Govern
ment and brethren, to whom our honor
should be dear as their own Never
again will our battleflags wave in strife
They have gone down forever, but they
went down in glory and in honor. They
are dead, and we love and follow alone
now the living flag which floats from
Key West to Behring Straits-from
Bunker Hill to San Francisco!
ON JULY THIRD.
The morning was spent in sight
seeing and going over the field. One
house on Baltimore street, in which a
Confederate shell is sticking, attracted
more than usual notice. In the after
noon the Veterans cOllectpd at thai,